A motion picture production, either a commercial, television show or a theatrical movie starts with a creative intent by a cinematographer (and/or director and/or other people involved in the creative intent) for an overall “look” for the project and its incorporation throughout each scene.
This “look” can be the creation of a single individual, such as the cinematographer or it can be a collaborative creation of a few or several people. If there is more than one person, the task of communicating the creative intent to everyone becomes a problem. Most often, the best way to communicate the creative intent is by creating an image for sharing and discussing. This enables actual viewing of the image without relying solely on ambiguous words to describe the image. U.S. Pat. No. 6,122,006 issued to Bogdanowicz et al. on Sep. 19, 2000 discloses the creation of a “look” and creation of a printed image to communicate the creative intent.
However, the task of maintaining the “look” does not stop with the cinematographer. In a modern motion picture the film element is exposed, developed by a laboratory, and sometimes printed onto a motion picture print stock for projection. In the laboratory there are usually many choices in processing and various techniques to alter the photographic image. A communication link must be established between the cinematographer and the laboratory to continue the evolution of the creative intent of the image.
Currently, most motion pictures have special effects added in at a post-production facility. These special effects can be quite elaborate and intricate However, more and more motion picture productions are scanning in an entire film project to a digital intermediate (also known as a digital master), which can be altered in a digital-to-digital suite where global, and local color and tone scale changes are introduced. If the originators/creators of the “look” are not present in the post-production house, the “look” may be compromised by other individuals taste or ideas. Further, if an overall “look” is to be applied to the project on a scene-by-scene basis, a colorist (i.e., the person running the digital equipment) needs to try to apply the look consistently across the project.